Thursday, March 24, 2005

Good Friday

Wow, has it really been that long since my last entry? I better get moving.

Hard to believe Easter is just a few days away. There's an excitement building in the air. Can you feel it? It bubbles slowly, building inside until you just can't hold it in anymore. It explodes in a rush and suddenly the words come bursting out in a wild kind of joy.

He is risen! He is risen indeed!

Yes, Christ is risen indeed. Tomorrow is Good Friday. I heard someone ask recently, "If Jesus died on that day, why do they call it Good Friday?" I honestly didn't know what to say. I didn't know why.

So I did some searching. My family and I used to live in Switzerland and Good Friday was called Karfreitag—loosely translated as Mourning or Sorrowful Friday. Businesses and schools closed early the Thursday before and didn't reopen until Saturday. It was a holiday. A religious holiday. A holy day. Good Friday.

Others speculate that it's like our current "good-bye" that evolved from "God be with you." Perhaps it was once God Friday and has now become Good Friday.

I don't really know which it is, but I do know that an amazing thing happened that day. Christ died so that I may live. Eternally. So, however it became Good Friday is secondary to the miracle of Christ's resurrection. And it is a miracle. In my book, it's the greatest miracle God ever performed. Without it, we are nothing and there is nothing gained.

Christ's resurrection is the proof that His crucifixion wasn't in vane. We don't like to face the harshness of His death. We don't like to think of someone suffering on our account. We don't want to accept that we needed Christ to die for us in order to have a relationship with God. But it's true.

It's also true that without Christ's resurrection, there would be no salvation. Paul tried to dispell rumors that there was no resurrection. In 1Corinthians 15:13-14, he says, "If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith."

Those are powerful words. The crucifixion and the resurrection go hand in hand. You can't have one without the other. It just doesn't work. God made it that way. He is risen. We are saved.

So what's the excitement that builds inside us? I believe it's the Holy Sprit reminding us of the amazing power God unleashed in us through Christ. We can do nothing, be nothing, without Christ. Or, we can do all things through Him. (Philippians 4:13)

I choose to do all things through Him, because I know without Him I am nothing. I can't imagine trying to live my life without Him. It's the most amazing and exciting journey I've ever taken. And the best part is, it doesn't end.

So, I close with the words that keep bubbling in my mind and bursting from my lips. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed!

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About Me

DINEEN A. MILLER has won several prestigious awards for her fiction, and her devotional writing has been featured in Our Journey and Christian Women Online Magazine. Married for more than 23 years, she shares her life with a great guy who adores disc golf, her two daughters, who never stop surprising her with their own creativity, and a dog who no doubt is an angel in disguise. Her first book, Winning Him Without Words, 10 Keys to Thriving in Your Spiritually Mismatched Marriage, is available now. Her first novel, The Soul Saver, and novella, A Love Meant to Be, will both release next year.